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Boehner's wiretapping stance draws ire

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Rep. Jim McDermott (left) leaked a recording of House Minority Leader John A. Boehner and others.
John Shinkle

When a federal judge ordered Rep. Jim McDermott to pay House Minority Leader John A. Boehner and his attorneys more than $1 million in damages and legal fees for leaking an illegally taped phone call to the media, Boehner said he pursued the case because “no one — including members of Congress — is above the law.”

Why, then, is the Ohio Republican trying to squash similar lawsuits against telecommunications companies who cooperated with the government in warrantless electronic surveillance, ask the attorneys behind the class action suits.

“Mr. Boehner is trying to kick millions of Americans out of court in a wiretapping case while collecting more than $1 million in his own wiretapping case. It’s the height of hypocrisy and seems to indicate that members of Congress are entitled to their day in court but the average American is not,” said Kevin Bankston, a senior staff attorney at the consumer rights nonprofit the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

The criticism comes amid continuing negotiations among House and Senate leaders in both parties as they seek common ground with the White House on updating the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Boehner’s efforts put him in the position of arguing that telecom companies are above the law in violating their customers’ privacy rights, say those lobbying against letting the companies off the hook.

Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said the congressman supports retroactive immunity for telecom companies because they “shouldn’t face lawsuits for helping our country in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.”

The concerns of those opposed to immunity, Steel said, are “outweighed by the compelling national security interests that we’re talking about here.”

McDermott, a Democrat from Washington state, leaked an illegally recorded phone conversation for political gain, Steel said, while the telecom firms are being sued for helping the government protect Americans in the war against terrorism.

“This is like comparing the Watergate plumbers with our men and women in the armed forces fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Steel said.

But Michelle Richardson of the American Civil Liberties Union said it doesn’t matter why the telecom companies cooperated in the government surveillance.

“The only thing that matters is whether they broke the law and will they have to answer for that,” she said.

In the case against McDermott, Boehner’s attorneys argued in a court filing that “private litigation to enforce the federal wiretapping act serves governmental interests of the highest order.”

Boehner’s suit stemmed from McDermott’s leak of a 1996 phone conversation in which Boehner and House Republican leaders discussed how to spin an ethics investigation involving then-Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.). Earlier this year, McDermott was ordered to pay about $1.1 million to Boehner and his attorneys for violating Boehner’s privacy.

In the debate before Congress over telecom immunity, Boehner has attacked Democrats for pandering to “typical trial lawyers trying to find a way to get into the pockets” of telecom companies. And Steel argued that immunity opponents are outside the mainstream, noting that the Senate overwhelming approved retroactive immunity months ago.

Readers' Comments (5)

The People have had enough and these People at this level are going to get their day, I have never seen such in my life. I hope the People go in Nov and Vote all of them out and if laws have been broken than arrest them now. Look at the crimmals in the White House stealing the Future of the Kids and You so called Representives our sick and need to be dealt with.

The congressman could have set a major example. So often it is do as I say and not as I do. But he could have decided not to sue for damages. The congressman could have said see even a congressman can be wiretapped. He could have shown the public that illegal wiretapping is nothing we need to fear. Instead he made excuses saying why it is okay for our calls to be listened in to but how his calls should not be. The Republicans also rail against trial lawyers and this again was the perfect platform for the Republican to lead by example instead he did just the opposite and decided that he was so wronged he deserved 1 million in cold hard cash.

It's the height of hypocrisy and seems to indicate that members of Congress are entitled to their day in court but the average American is not," said Kevin Bankston. That pretty much sums up the sentiment. Politics deludes these mens minds.

What this shows is the McDermott is willing to wiretap a fellow Congressman but is unwilling to wiretap the terrorists who are bent on destroying America.

It will be Left to the American public to do their own spying on the terrorists who are here and poised to attack. In the Twin Cities there are predicted to be dozens of terrorists living among average citizens as everyone knows that Moussaui and Warsame did not work alone. It seems that the government is bent on destroying itself while the terrorists go free to willy-nilly plan and plot their next attacks unchecked.

McDermott is just a Cindy Sheehan Leftist anti-American who would attack Republicans and let terrorists off the hook.